What does a wedding florist really do?

Take a trip behind the scenes with me….

The journey to a beautiful wedding is super exciting.  There are many talented vendors behind the scenes dedicated to making your day a dream come true.  Your wedding florist is of course one of those vendors.  The ultimate job of your wedding florist is to provide floral arrangements that enhance the aesthetics and atmosphere of a wedding ceremony and reception.  However, the journey you will go on with your florist starts well before the big day.  Read on to see what happens behind the scenes when you take that journey with Iris and Blue as your wedding florist.

Initial consultation

To help you decide whether I’m the right wedding florist for you, (of course I am!) we’ll have an initial informal chat which can be over the phone or in person.  Chatting wedding flowers over coffee is one of our very favourite things to do!  We’ll discuss all the details of your wedding.  Be prepared – I’ll ask lots of questions!  These include the size of the wedding, the venue, the outfits, the bridal party, ceremony details, table layouts, colour schemes, overall look and theme for the day, set up logistics and more.  I’ll listen carefully to your answers and look at any images you’ve saved for inspo so that I can build up a really good picture of how you want your day to look and feel.

Lovely meetings in the heart of Soho

Design

Once we’ve established that we’re happy to work together (yay!) I’ll arrange a visit to your venue. I always do this to get a really good idea of how to maximise the space (and your budget) to make it the most beautiful it can be.  Following that, I’ll get stuck in to the design process. I prepare gorgeous mood boards for all of the floral arrangements you require.  I suggest styles, colours and specific flowers so that you can be sure that your vision for your day will be fully realised.  Hours of thought and time go in to this but it truly is one of my favourite aspects of the job.  Moreover, the feedback I receive from you is invaluable in enabling us to nail exactly what you want.

Mood board for winter wedding dried flowers

Once the designs are agreed, we then source all of the sundries – vases, pots, plinths, candles, candlesticks, tablecloths, ribbons etc.  Everything has to be ordered well in advance so that there’s no last minute dramas just days before. For example, if we need to commission metal ware – a bespoke arch perhaps, then this needs to be done a few months in advance. It’s also very necessary to liaise with the other vendors – the venue, cake makers, caterers etc.  We all need to know what each other is doing so that the set up and day itself are seamless.  There’s little point in having hundreds of vases and candles on the tables if the caterer needs space for tons of sharing plates.

Bespoke white arch created by the wonderful William at Wedding Metal Art.

The week before

The week before, when all other details are complete, freelancers booked, venue logistics sorted and parking options checked then the manual work begins.  The buckets for the flowers must be sterilized and cleaned, as well as all vases and candlesticks.  The joy of cleaning tea lights of melted wax can take more than a little while!

A few days before I’ll order your perfect flowers. Sometimes it’s not possible to get them from one supplier so I’ll need to do multiple sourcing.  In order to try and be more sustainable, I have travelled to picked the flowers myself from a local grower – satisfying on so many levels.

Preparing the flowers

Once the flowers arrive at the studio, the all important job of conditioning them begins.  The stems need to be cut and all leaves below the water stripped off.  Sounds simple and quick but when you’ve hundreds and hundreds of stems it can take a couple of hours at least.  Some need special conditioning – like delphiniums whose hollow stems have to be turned upside down, filled with water and then covered with your finger before plunging them in the cleaned bucket.  To be honest, even just filling the buckets up with water and flower food seems to take an age!

Quality control making sure the Quicksand roses are perfect for Mel & Omer’s wedding at Hicce Hart

Making the arrangements

This is when the real fun starts and we make your arrangements. Bouquets, buttonholes and smaller vases are made up in the studio while large urns or arches have to be done onsite.  It’s fun but time pressured, we’re fuelled with coffee, cake and adrenalin!

Phoebe creating beautiful garden inspired arrangements for Debbie & Ross’s wedding breakfast at St Stephen’s Trust

Delivery & Set Up

Set the alarm for 5am!  This is another very early start.  Luckily most bridal parties get going at the crack of dawn too, but you should expect to see us before 9am.  All arrangements have to be packed up carefully – again the transportation can be fairly stressy, you need lots of crates and excellent packing skills! We’re masters at packing, manipulating the arrangements – small, medium and mega – so that they always all fit in and arrive in perfect condition.

Fully committed and holding tight to the precious cargo…Laura’s bridal bouquet

Depending on where the bridal party are staying the night before we may do several drop offs of the bouquets and buttonholes before even going to the venue/s.  Again the ceremony may be in a completely different place to the reception so it’s travelling time we have to factor in.  Once onsite, it’s all hands on deck to unload the arrangements and flowers.  We’ll then get to work, setting up the large displays and laying out the tables with vases/candles etc…all with an eye on the clock! No one wants to be up a ladder or doing a last minute sweep of the floor when the guests rock up!

Pick Up

The day after, it’s up early and back to the venue/s to dismantle any large displays, pack up all of our sundries and dispose of the flowers if required. And then back to the studio to sort, clean and store away – all ready for the next wedding.

When I tell people I’m a wedding and events florist they almost always reply with ‘oh how dreamy, it must be so relaxing to play with flowers all day’.  And they’d be correct – it is my dream job, it’s so much fun, and a huge honour to be asked to do anyone’s flowers for their best day.  Hopefully this has given a little window in to ALL the fun and games behind the scenes and a snap shot of how we pour our heart, soul and muscle power in to delivering your dream wedding flowers.

For that informal chat over coffee do get in touch via our online wedding form or email jenny@irisandblue.com.

xxx